Fly Leasing Ltd(ADR) (NYSE:FLY) was in 6 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. FLY investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund sentiment of late. There were 4 hedge funds in our database with FLY holdings at the end of the previous quarter.
To the average investor, there are dozens of gauges market participants can use to analyze their holdings. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading activity. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the top money managers can trounce the S&P 500 by a solid margin (see just how much).
Just as key, positive insider trading activity is a second way to break down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are lots of stimuli for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Many academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if shareholders understand what to do (learn more here).
Keeping this in mind, it’s important to take a gander at the latest action surrounding Fly Leasing Ltd(ADR) (NYSE:FLY).
How are hedge funds trading Fly Leasing Ltd(ADR) (NYSE:FLY)?
At year’s end, a total of 6 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 50% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings meaningfully.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, holds the most valuable position in Fly Leasing Ltd(ADR) (NYSE:FLY). Renaissance Technologies has a $10.6 million position in the stock, comprising less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, which held a $0.9 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining hedgies that are bullish include John Overdeck and David Siegel’s Two Sigma Advisors, Andy Redleaf’s Whitebox Advisors and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.
As aggregate interest increased, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. Millennium Management, managed by Israel Englander, established the most valuable position in Fly Leasing Ltd(ADR) (NYSE:FLY). Millennium Management had 0.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors also initiated a $0.1 million position during the quarter.
How are insiders trading Fly Leasing Ltd(ADR) (NYSE:FLY)?
Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, Fly Leasing Ltd(ADR) (NYSE:FLY) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Fly Leasing Ltd(ADR) (NYSE:FLY). These stocks are Aircastle Limited (NYSE:AYR), McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC), CAI International Inc (NYSE:CAP), seacube container leasing ltd (NYSE:BOX), and Electro Rent Corporation (NASDAQ:ELRC). This group of stocks belong to the rental & leasing services industry and their market caps are similar to FLY’s market cap.
